Feb
15th
2007
Gmail is open to everyone
4 Responses to “Gmail is open to everyone”
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My friend’s account was deleted yesterday and now she’s not able to login at all. Sending an email to her address bounces back saying that there’s no account w/ that username.
While not an “excuse” against signing up for a gmail account, it certainly does paint a reality that makes one think twice about depending so much upon a remotely hosted email provider.
Very true.
I even had some problems earlier with them.
Out of all the free services, though, I think they’re head and shoulders above the rest.
All is well in Gmail Zion.
Turns out somebody received an email from said friend and hit ye ole “Report Spam” button. That button apparently wields awesome powers, suspending (or as they indicate to the user, terminating) one’s account with no warning, rhyme, or reason.
That’s poor customer service on Google’s part. If you’re not going to first give the user a warning, at least tell them why you’ve suspended/terminated their account so they know what they did wrong and what they might do to fix it… C’mon, people!
The problem with gmail is that even when you delete your email, it still saves it somewhere. They archive, behind your back, both your incoming and your outgoing email. And harvest information from those emails, for who knows what purposes. Gmail can then sell the “derived” or harvested information, even if it’s not the actual message, to whoever they want. They can do that in the agregate or per the individual. There is something nefarious in all that. It is more nefarious than what the grocery chains and other stores do with the purchasing history that they collect when you use your affinity card, or membership card to get your “discounts.”
Purchasing history is also collected when you pay by check (your bank routing # plus your account # becomes a unique ID), or credit card.